let's go outside.

I've been looking for some fun activities to do outside with the kids.  Here are some things I'm considering investing in for the Spring:  acorn birdfeeder, i love dirt! book, butterfly net, eggling pots, flower press, garden magnifying glass & bug hotel. 

spring is here, Easter is near!

this print just makes me happy. 

{by art & light, spotted here.} 

weekend update

our weekend looked a bit like this:

The kids and I put peanut butter & birdseed on pine cones for the

birds.  Then we all went and visited the kids' baby horses: Indy &

Husker.  Sunday morning we had a nice brunch at The Double Eagle.  

From there we hit the nursery and spent the afternoon planting

some honey suckle & an almond tree in the back yard.  There was

some Michael Bluth tucked in here and there.  It was a really nice

weekend.

{images from *annabel*, Fjola Dogg's, the Double Eagle, Ingrid Sandberg, Sabinche}

composting

Hypothetically speaking: Say we let our two bunnies run free in the yard.  Also, let's say that I feed them all of our vegetable scraps and they consequently poop all over the lawn.  Does this count as composting?    

Just asking.

{illustration by Beatrix Potter}

a french Bulldog for the 12th day of Christmas

I'm going to go ahead and past the final "day of Christmas" post today too, as tomorrow I will be flying the hopefully friendly skies.  

As my final wish on my wish list, I would like to add one of these furry friends to our family. My mother likes to tell me that a dog would destroy my previous post, the lovely crewel rug. But for this face, I might, might be able to forego the rug.  

As it may be, I don't like to spend a lot of money on things.  Nearly always, the item or type of item that I like is the expensive kind.  Why is that?!  

French Bulldogs are not cheap.  My guess is that if this little guy doesn't show up on a sleigh, he won't be showing up at all.  

But at least then, I could get my rug.  Just looking for the silver lining.

Does anyone know how French Bulldogs do with chickens?

{images from: Dog Breed Info, Kevin Colden, 321 dogs}

a chicken coop on the 9th day of Christmas

We have talked for some time now about introducing some chickens into the family. It has become not so much of an 'if', but rather a 'when'. We sometimes like to design chicken coops in our spare time. I mean, who doesn't, really? The 'when' seems much farther off when I think of some of our elaborate designs. Chickens could join us far sooner, and still live large, if Santa brought us one of these.

Cute, no?

I found it here.

Montessori: apples & chickens & goats -O my!

So...I think we are about to take the plunge. Right now my oldest child "E", she's 4.5 - is in a nice private Christian school. Nice parents, nice kids, nice curriculum - it's all very nice. So why am I itching to get her out of there? Something about it all just has not been sitting well with me. I started researching (did you know that I L-O-V-E to research?...just an aside) some other schooling options. The Montessori concept really caught my attention and the more that I learn about it the more I:

a.) wish that I had attended a Montessori as a child and  b.) want my children to attend Montessori schools while they are young.

I love the idea of children learning the concepts and skills they need to know by doing everyday tasks. Rather then sitting in a chair learning a concept they are actually doing the task at hand. There is a part of me that wishes that I could homeschool, but I am just not that mom. I feel like with Montessori, I am paying someone to have the patience to do the things with my child that I just don't have the patience to do. I know that that sounds awful. But I don't mean it that way at all. There are just certain things that my kids won't experience because I am unwilling to go there. I am grateful for a classroom that is set up to encourage kids to go there. Poring water out of a small scale glass pitcher into small glasses. A dish washing station. Shoe & silver polishing. My kids would rather do this stuff any day over playing with silly old toys. Now sweet E is gonna have her chance.

The school that we are most excited about has chickens & goats for the kids to help care for. There are fruit trees that the kids gather the fruit from and a garden that they plant and tend. Um...can I go too?

I just started to read this book to learn how to incorporate more Montessori concepts at home with my little one.

This catalog is a fascinating look at the different items that fill a Montessori classroom. There are some great finds for home too, as everything is made kid size. These are real tools, not toys, they are just made to fit in little hands. What a concept!

{image found at socializr}

ants

I called my sister in a panic yesterday. I needed to ask her the ever important "What do you get a six-year old boy for his birthday?" question. She was just sitting down to dinner, she'll have to call me back. Basically, I was own my own. All I really know about Caleb, the six-year old in question, was that he likes bugs. rather, he LOVES bugs. I arrive at Toys R' Us. This maybe my second time as an adult in the store but I figured the would have the largest selection of bug paraphernalia. I look at a saleswoman blankly and say "bugs?" She points me in the right direction. There I find, two, count them two choices. My first was a super-sized, fuzzy, remote control operated tarantula. The second was an ant farm. Need I say that it was a no-brainer. I actually have a warm nostalgia like feeling concerning ant farms. Had I been given fifty options I still probably would have left with the an farm. Granted, it's not the simple ant farm that I recall from my childhood. This one came with neon colored gel to nourish the ants. Can something a color not found in nature actually provide nourishment? I think that's another post all together.

In summary: Is it okay to bring insects into an unsuspecting persons home and call it a gift?

{image by Miss History}